'Need more time'
Partly unfortunate, Mominul Haque didn't have the best of times in the World Cup. It was in complete contrast to the way he had begun the tour. He scored a half-century in Bangladesh's opening practice match against an Australia XI and was called back half-way through his innings in order to give the other batsmen on the team a chance to play.
That was as good as it could get for Mominul as he struggled to find a role in the playing eleven. He was sent in at seven against Afghanistan and then promoted to three in the next game. The result of all these moves was quite evident. The left-hander seemed to lose his confidence -- he even dropped Kumar Sangakkara in the crucial encounter against Sri Lanka -- and eventually lost his place in the side.
It was an unfortunate event for a player who comfortably leads the batting average in Tests.
Mominul though wasn't too keen on recalling the last few months. On the contrary, he wanted to make the most of the new-found confidence that he received after leading his side, Islami Bank East Zone, to the Bangladesh Cricket League title on Sunday with a well composed 78.
"I don't want to talk about my problems. I think it's best that way. I am personally working on them… hopefully I can come back well," the left-hander told reporters during Bangladesh's training camp yesterday.
"Confidence is something I really needed at this point of time and winning the trophy has given me a good boost. To have scored an innings of that kind in the final… no doubt helped me a lot," he added.
For someone who has been the highlight of Bangladesh's batting in Test cricket in the recent past, Mominul admits that he feels gutted to not be a regular in the ODI squad. He reckoned that he needed more time to excel in the shorter format.
"I am trying to further learn the art of ODI cricket. I am trying to improve my strike-rate. When I was in Australia, our coach told me that I needed some more time to start performing in ODIs. So… I am working hard and trying to stretch myself.
"I don't think the bad phase has anything to do with my mental-self. People go through such periods and maybe this is one of those phases for me," said Mominul.
"People say a lot of things when you play good or bad… I have always tried to be a champion cricketer and that's why I choose to ignore those comments," he concluded.
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